


Making New Music

by Historical_Fangirl



Series: Crutchie and Jennie [10]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Blind Character, F/M, Friendship, Music, Piano, Theatre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21947803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Historical_Fangirl/pseuds/Historical_Fangirl
Summary: Faith discovers the piano at Medda's theater one winter's day and immediately falls in love with it.
Relationships: Crutchie/Original Character(s)
Series: Crutchie and Jennie [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1167623
Kudos: 3





	Making New Music

**Author's Note:**

> Here is day two of Newsies OC Week 2019. I hope everyone enjoys this!
> 
> Faith and Eddie are both 8 when this takes place. Clara is 4, and Emma has just turned 1.
> 
> Day 2: Music

_ January 1914 _

“Suddenly, the prince ran into the cave, ready to save the princess from the dragon!” Faith paused dramatically, waiting. This was Eddie’s cue to run into the bedroom and pretend to cut off the “dragon’s” head. The dragon was being played by Clara, who sat silently on the floor sulking because she hadn’t been given the role of the princess. Emma, for her part, watched from her crib with interest.

Faith waited for the door to open, but after a minute had gone by without movement she stamped her foot impatiently. “Eddie! Come on, that’s your cue!”

“This is boring!” came the muffled response from the other side of the door. “I wanna do something else!”

Faith crossed the room and yanked the door open with a huff. “Like what?” she demanded.

The fabric of Eddie’s shirt rustled as he shrugged. “I don’t know. Something fun!”

“We could ask Mama to use her typewriter!” Clara piped up, her voice a little brighter at the suggestion of doing something else.

“No, Mama went to visit Aunt Ivkah, ‘member?” Eddie said. “Uncle Dave had to work and Chana and Yosef both have the flu, so Mama said she’d help out.”

“Then… Oh! Let’s ask Daddy to draw!” As she spoke Clara scrambled to her feet, her shoes clicking against the floor.

“Wait for me!” Faith cried, chasing after them with her arms outstretched. All three of them bounded into the parlor where Jack was sitting at his desk, drawing.

“Daddy! Can we draw pitchers?” Clara asked, bouncing up and down and tugging on his pant leg. “Please?”

“I dunno, Clara. I thought you all were playin’ pretend?” Jack sounded vaguely distracted as he tried to listen to Clara and finish his work at the same time.

“That’s boring! Now we wanna draw!” Eddie explained. “Please, Daddy?”

“Hmm…” Jack’s chair creaked as he sat back in it, considering. “Tell ya what. I gotta go over to Miss Medda’s soon, to paint some sets for her. Why don’t you come with me? I could use a couple of extra hands.”

“Yes!” Eddie and Clara cheered in unison.

“What about me?” Faith asked put-out at the idea of being left behind in favor of the Kelly children.

“You can come too, Faith, don’ worry. Aunt Katherine’ll be home soon to look after Emma, an’ then we can head out.”

~

“Well, hello everyone!” Medda’s rich voice boomed as Jack led Faith and the others into the theater. “Jack, I see you’ve brought some helpers with you. Eddie, you look more and more like your father here every day. Clara, think you’ve grown at least an inch since I last saw you! And Faith! It’s been ages, honey! How are your parents?”

Faith ducked behind Jack’s leg. “Good,” she mumbled. She felt shy around the boisterous Miss Medda, especially since she didn’t see her nearly as often as Eddie and Clara did.

“So, Miss Medda, me an’ my helpers were wonderin’ where the sets you talked about are,” Jack said, patting Faith on the head reassuringly.

“Oh, they’re just on the stage,” Medda replied, her voice growing slightly distant as she walked up the aisle of the theater. “I put some tarps down so things won’t get too messy. Although with these three here, who knows what’ll happen?” Eddie and Clara giggled.

“Okay then! Eddie, Clara, why don’t you pick out the colors you want to paint with?” Jack asked.

“What about me?” Faith demanded.

“I was just gettin’ to you, Faith. Why don’t you…” Jack trailed off as he thought. Faith waited, fidgeting with every passing second.

“You can come with me, Faith.” Miss Medda spoke up. “I’ve got something I’ve been meaning to show you.”

~

Medda led Faith to the orchestra pit, in front of the stage. The whole way she chatted about this and that, while Faith stayed silent as her shyness took over once again. Finally, Medda stopped walking.

“Here we are!” she announced. “Faith honey, have you ever played the piano before?”

Faith shook her head. “No. We’ve got one at school and church, but I’ve never played them.”

“Well, would you like to try?” Miss Medda asked. Her skirts whispered as she sat down at the bench, patting the space next to her. “Come on. I’ll show you.”

Faith hesitantly took a seat next to Medda, nervous butterflies beginning to flutter in her stomach. Medda gently took Faith’s hands and set them on the keys, pressing down on middle C, then D, then E, and so on.

“That’s a C Major scale,” she explained when they were done. “Can you play it on your own now?”

With only a moment’s hesitation, Faith played the scale back perfectly. For a few glorious seconds, the sound of the notes swirled around her, drowning out the rest of the world.

“Excellent, Faith!” Miss Medda’s voice was glowing with pride. “Now, try this.”

For the next hour, Faith was lost in Miss Medda’s voice and piano music. Miss Medda would play a scale or part of a song, and then Faith would repeat it back to her. By the end of it, Faith was enchanted.

~

“How was your day, darlin’?” Crutchie asked at dinner that evening. “Jack told me you all went to see Miss Medda. Didja have fun?”

“Yes!” Faith exclaimed. “She taught me how to play scales on the piano! And she said that if I come back again, she’ll show me how to play a song!”

“That’s very generous of her,” Jennie said. “We’ll have to take her up on that offer sometime.”

Faith nodded eagerly, her face flushed with excitement. “I’m going to be a piano player when I grow up!”

Jennie chuckled, and Crutchie ruffled Faith’s hair affectionately. “I’se sure ya will be, darlin’.”

**Author's Note:**

> Faith goes to school at the Lavelle School for the Blind, a Catholic school in the Bronx founded in 1904 that still exists today.
> 
> Please leave both comments and kudos on this story, and tell me what you thought of it!


End file.
